during obama's victory in 2008, and against him is challenger robert -- republican state senator from chatham, the seventh part of the district, and jeff parker, tea party member and independent businessman from the danville area. this race is getting a lot of national attention because republicans see periello as one of the most vulnerable democrats in congress, he represents a somewhat conservative district and he voted in favor of obama's major initiatives -- health care, capt. trade, stimulus, so on. and two years ago he was elected by the smallest margin of any congressional race in the country. they think -- the republicans are seeing this as a pickup but democrats, however, say tom perriello is a fighter, very tough campaigner and because he supported the same initiatives that he is getting support of national democrats just like national republicans are trying to taken down. in 2008, perriello, a young lawyer from charlottesville, he challenged a six-term conservative republican and beat him by 7 1927 votes. this is the closest margin of any race that year in congress. some people say